The Associated Students of Glendale Community College (ASGCC) fine-tuned its constitution by adding four new amendments and putting them to a vote in order to better serve the student body.
The voting was held on April 9 and 10 from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. in front of the college library.
“The constitutional elections change the constitution so we can function better as a student government body,” said Robert Akverdyan, 20, vice president of relations.
The ASGCC is a student legislature that has regular meetings on Tuesday of every week during the fall and spring semesters. This legislative body is composed of 20 voting student representatives elected by the student body every semester.
When the legislature is not convened during the winter and summer inter-sessions, all the decision making authority is temporarily transferred to the executive committee, composed of the student body president, vice president of administration, finance campus activities, campus relations and campus organizations.
“For example, said Averdyan, “Proposition B says that if an officer, let us say a vice president, leaves office or a vacancy is created, the president will fill the vacancy until the position is filled according to our bylaws, That way we have someone who will be able to make decisions during our legislative meetings so the business of the student government can be conducted.”
Proposition B “seems to be too much work for one person,” he said. “I am thinking maybe the position should be filled by someone below the president. In our [federal] government when the president is not there, the vice president and then the speaker of the house take over. Maybe someone below the president should take over who has less to do,” said Aaron Hyden, 20, a history major.
Proposition A states that when the legislature is not in session, the executive committee will have the power and authority to conduct all official ASGCC business. Proposition A passed by 22 to 8 vote.
Proposition B passed by a 20 to 11 vote.
Proposition C, append two letters, D and H, to Article V, Section 2. Letter D states that the vice president of administration will prepare, distribute, and post meeting minutes, adopted minutes and agendas in accordance with the Brown Act (which ensures the public is aware of meeting dates, and able to speak to their elected representatives) and Letter H requires the vice president of administration to notify, in writing, any member of the legislature who has received two or more absences to any meeting in accordance with Article VI, Section 4. Proposition C passed by a 20 to 10 vote.
Proposition D disallows the vice president of any committee to appoint a representative without going through the executive committee process as labeled throughout the bylaws and constitution. This proposition passed by a 20 to 8 vote.
“They are our voice in what happens in the College,” said Ani Ginosyan, 20, a biology major. “What ASGCC does is for the students, and if they can’t cover that which they need to do, nothing would be done. I support their efforts and the new amendments, they are improvements.”
The final vote count was 196. There were two choices, which allowed the students to either pass all propositions or fail them all together, or the students could vote yes or no for each proposition individually. The “Yes to all Changes” category received 70 votes and its counterpart, the “No to all changes,” seven votes.